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On this day (Jan. 11) in 1863, a Union warship was sunk in a
skirmish with a Confederate vessel in the Gulf of Mexico.

Exactly 150 years later, a new 3D map of the USS Hatteras has
been released that shows what the remains of the warship look
like. The Hatteras rests on the ocean floor about 20 miles (32
kilometers) off Galveston, Texas, according to a release from the
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which
helped to sponsor the
expedition to map the shipwreck.

The Hatteras was sunk in a battle with the Confederate raider CSS
Alabama, and was the only Union warship sunk in combat in the
Gulf of Mexico during the Civil War.

"Most shipwreck survey maps are two-dimensional and based on
observations made by sight, photographs or by feeling around in
murky water while stretching a measuring tape," said James
Delgado, with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in
the statement. "Thanks to the high-resolution sonar, we have a
three-dimensional map that not only provides measurements and
observations, but the ability for researchers and the public to
virtually swim through the wreck's exposed remains and even look
below the surface at structure buried in loose silt."

Recent storms have dislodged some of the sediment that covered
the ship, 57 feet (17 meters) beneath the surface, so researchers
took advantage of the opportunity to map the vessel with
state-of-the-art sonar in the fall of 2012, according to the
statement.

The map has revealed previously unknown features of the
shipwreck, including a largely intact paddlewheel that once
propelled the vessel forward. It also shows damage to the wheel's
steering column and the engine room.

The Hatteras rests in federal waters, and is protected under the
Sunken Military Craft Act as a war grave, according to the
release.

The ship was part of a blockade to prevent goods from traveling
to and from Galveston, which remained one of the last bastions of
the Confederacy late into
the Civil War, the NOAA noted.